J

Janaka A king of the Mithilā Dynasty who reigned at Videha, famed for his good works, knowledge, and sanctity: through his righteous life he became a Brahmana and one of the Rājarṣis. He was the father of Sītā, who sprang up from the earth from the furrow he had made with his plow. (Bh.G. 25)

Janārdana In the Purāṇas the One Cosmic Intelligent Life, manifesting in the threefold aspect of Fashioner, Preserver, and Regenerator (i.e., the Hindu Trimūrti – Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva). Applied to Kṛṣṇa in his avataric manifestation of Viṣṇu. *jan, to be born, to come forth; *ard, to move: ‘the ever-born.’ Bh.G. 72)

Jayadratha A prince of the Chandravaṅsa (Lunar Dynasty), son of Brihanmanas and king of the Sindhus and Sauviras (tribes living along the Indus river). Jayadratha. married Duhsala, the daughter of Dhṛtaraṣṭra, hence he became an ally of the Kurus in the war with the Pāṇḍavas, during which he was slain by Arjuna. (m. having victorious chariots. Bh.G. 83)

Jñāna [from the verbal root jñā to know, have knowledge, understand] Intelligence, understanding, knowledge; the old philosophers said that parabrahman is not jñāta (known), not jñāna (knowledge), and not jñeya (that which may be known), nevertheless parabrahman is the one source of which these three modes of understanding are manifestations.

Jñāna and vidya are closely similar, with perhaps the suggestion of intuitive intellectual cognizance expressed in jñāna, and a more active and individualized activity expressed by vidya. Either word can stand for knowledge or wisdom; in theosophy jnana is often translated as innate or intuitive knowledge, and vidya as reflective or stored-up cognizance of intellectual and other values, or wisdom, though these distinctions are somewhat arbitrary. (From: Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary (ETG)). (BH.G. IV 43)

Jñāna-yoga The form of yoga practice and training where the attaining of union with the spiritual-divine essence within is by means of cultivating wisdom, spiritual insight, and intuition. From: Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary (ETG)). (BH.G. IV 43)

Jumnā The modern Yamunā or Jamnā: a river in the Northwest Provinces of India: it joins the Ganges at Allahabad. The strip of land lying between it and the Saraśvatī river was the region of the Kurus in the Mahābhārata.The Yadavas ruled over the country west of the Jumnā. Vyāsa was born on an island situated in this river. (Bh.G. iii)

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If theosophy has one natural enemy against which it has fought and will always fight it is the materialistic view of life, the view that nothing exists except dead unconscious matter and that the phenomena of life and thought and consciousness spring from it.

- G de Purucker - Fundamentals of the Esoteric Philosophy p. 65-66.

(foreign terms see Glossary above right)

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